Weight Loss and Muscle Gain

Yes
It will help speed up your metabolism as well
How ever cardio is the best for fat loss! I say do what feels right. When I had more fat I actually felt like I was craving more cardio than I do Now. Listen to ur body cause every 1 is different. I do recommend doing some kind of strength training just because that will tone you and also it’s a workout too and it will help you burn fat even after you’re done the workout.

People can potentially add a little muscle mass alongside losing weight, but it will be slower than if in a calorie surplus. Things that favor it happening would be slow fat loss (small calorie deficit), a good progressive strength training program faithfully performed, good overall nutrition (especially but not exclusively adequate protein), relative youth, relative maleness, favorable genetics, being new to strength training, being materially overweight to start.

At worst, lifting during fat loss will help preserve existing muscle tissue (a good thing, since it's pretty slow/hard to rebuild), and (if new to strength training or resuming after a long hiatus) increase strength (which increases initially from neuromuscular adaptation, i.e., better recruiting and utilizing existing muscle tissue, an effect that will happen faster than gaining new muscle fibers).

Cardio burns more calories per minute than strength training, typically; but from a fitness/health standpoint it's good to do both cardiovascular and strength exercise. If you're starting from ground zero, ramp up total volume/intensity gradually, for best results.

As an aside, it's not necessary to be in the fat burning zone during cardio. The fat burning zone is just about what fuel substrate is being used in the moment during the exercise. If we're in a calorie deficit overall, burning more calories in total than we eat, we'll burn fat sooner or later to make up the difference, because energy doesn't come from nothing. As a person trying to lose weight, why would we care if we burn that fat during exercise, or during sleep? If we're in a deficit, we'll burn it, no worries.

The "fat burning zone" is a concern for endurance athletes who need to manage fueling during long exercise sessions. Loosely, low intensity exercise burns more fat as a percentage of the calorie burn, higher intensity exercise burns more glycogen as a percentage of the calorie burn.

"As a percentage of calorie burn" is a key phrase. Fat vs. glycogen fueling isn't an on/off switch, but rather a gradual transition. Even in fairly intense exercise that's mainly glycogen-fueled (as a percentage), we may burn more fat calories per minute than in less intense exercise that's more fat-fueled (as a percentage), because we're burning more total calories per minute. Percentage arithmetic is tricky, y'know? 😉 Endurance athletes care because they need to manage their glycogen stores so they don't hit the wall, basically.

About the only fueling issue for someone whose goals are fat loss and muscle gain would be avoiding the dumb "all intense cardio all the time" mindset that parts of the pop-fitness blogosphere promote. "All intense all the time" is disproportionately fatiguing, can can even bleed calorie burn out of our daily life activity level (because we rest more the remainder of the day, basically). Very intense exercise tends to be self-limiting in duration (we just can't keep going). More moderate exercise can be done longer, if we have the time available, and not burn out our energy. All high intensity is also not the best route to fitness: Elite athletes don't train high intensity all the time, why would us regular duffers do it?

bobschmidt21 wrote: »

Yes and No. You can as a beginner. It’s possible to see some significant muscle growth as your burn through fat stores when youre starting out. But over time you’ll see diminishing returns. The truth is your body needs to be in a calorie surplus in order for it to have enough raw material to repair and build muscle. But in order to burn fat you need to be in a caloric deficit. (Burning more calories than you take in).

I would absolutely still recommend lifting weights as you lose fat. It will help you maintain the muscle you currently have as much as possible provided you’re eating enough protein. (1g per lb of body weight). As the fat comes off, your body will reveal the muscle you have underneath.

Check out Renaissance Periodization on Youtube. Dr Mike has a some great videos with science behind them. I found him about a year and a half ago and it changed my life. Get after it brother! I’m 38 and I’m right behind you.

The bolded is not even remotely true. If it were no-one at the gym while maintaining their weight would ever add any muscle!
Muscle breakdown and muscle protein synthesis (repair and build in your terminology) are happening constantly. Yes a surplus can be beneficial and help tip the balance between the two opposing processes but it is not a requirement.